Remixing Period Drama: The Fan Video and the Classic Novel Adaptation

Abstract

This article examines the various types of fan videos inspired by the nineteenth-century classic novel adaptation trend that can be found on online platforms and sharing sites. These works, including fan music videos, fake fan trailers, and actor appreciation videos, provide valuable insight into the reception of the genre in contemporary online participatory culture. Such period drama fan responses, the article argues, challenge settled cultural, ideological, and aesthetic definitions of the genre. The fan productions are furthermore considered not only as ethnographic evidence of audience behaviour and response but also as forms of adaptation themselves. Taking this approach allows comparisons to be drawn between the practices of fan creators and those of professional adapters. The aim is to revise the common view of the effective adaptation as an incisive critical reading by emphasising the more subjective and affective qualities the genre shares with fandom.